Fitness tests ‘sexist’, claims new report

Police fitness tests are unfairly discriminating against female officers and are conducted in a sexist manner, a new report has claimed.

The Gender-Neutral Timed Obstacle Course: a valid test of police fitness? presented by Professor Craig Jackson of Birmingham City University to the British Science Festival, also said the gender-neutral timed obstacle course (gentoc) tests favoured overweight officers and called for them to be scrapped.

From the 1,701 officers analysed over five years, approximately 60 per cent of women who took the gentoc tests passed, compared to more than 90 per cent of male officers. More than half of officers taking the tests were also classed as overweight, of which 40 per cent passed.

Professor Jackson said the tests did not adequately screen out unfit officers and unfairly targeted female officers, adding the conditions in which the tests were carried out were “a little bit like a very sexist meat market”.

He said: “The story here is that the test that is used isn’t fit for purpose.”

The fitness tests were developed by the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the forerunner to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and will be compulsory from this month as part of the Winsor Review of Pay and Conditions. It requires officers to achieve a minimum score of 5.4 on a 15-minute shuttle run.

However, an agreement has been reached that officers failing the test within the first 12 months of their introduction would not be faced with disciplinary procedures.

Assistant Chief Constable Robin Merrett, national fitness working group lead, said the tests are “compliant with equality legislation”, adding audits would be run by the College of Policing throughout the first year “to understand how specific groups are performing”.

“We will be ensuring that the fitness test does not unlawfully discriminate against gender or other protected groups,” he said.